Monday, March 9th, 2015

Wednesday, March 25th, 2015

Seder: Bridging Faiths Through the Holocaust

Bridging Faiths Through the Holocaust: SEDER - 6pm-8pm

Smith Hall 4513 Manhattan college PKY Riverdale, NY 10405

Price: FREE

This is a unique model Seder that is the culmination of a project encompassing Manhattan College's Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center (headed by a Muslim scholar of the Holocaust), Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School (YCT) and Holocaust survivor clients of Selfhelp Community Services Nazi Victims Services Program. Three students at Manhattan College (one a Muslim) and three Rabbinic Yeshiva students have been meeting with three Holocaust survivors since last September. During the discussions the students heard personal experiences from the Holocaust survivors. The model Seder which has been a tradition at Manhattan College will also be the result of the six months cooperative project. We are pleased to invite you as a leader of our community and join us in this interreligious celebration and cooperation.

Monday, April 13th, 2015

Yom Hashoah

Roger Grunwald and the Mitzvah Project - 4pm

Manhattan College Kelly Commons B Riverdale, New York 10471 718-862-7294

This is an all day awareness and panel presentation by Manhattan College students in Dr. Afridi's "Religion and Genocide" class.

Come support the work and dedication of the students!

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014

a search for healing by Carolyn Manosewitz

Exhibition and Artist talk - 4:30pm

4513 Manhattan College Riverdale, NY 10708 USA

Price: Free

a search for healing is the title of an exhibit of the 3-D paintings and paper sculpture by carolyn h. manosevitz, mfa. Themes include a focus on preserving memory of the destroyed shtetls ( jewish communities) of eastern europe and reconciliation between Christians, Jews and Muslims in the 'shadow of the shoah'.

There will be Holocaust survivors, students and people of all faiths. We will hold an interfaith discussion after the ceremony.

Sponsored by MC, HGI and SELFHELP.

Tuesday, March 25th, 2014

A Tale of Two Exiles: Tibetans and Jews

Lecture - Religion Living in Exile: Judaism and Tibetan Buddhism

4513 Manhattan College Riverdale, NY 10708 USA

Price: Free

Dr Nathan Katz is Distinguishesd Professor in the School of International and Public Affairs, the Bhagwan Mahavir Professor of Jain Studies, Director of the Program in the Study of

Spirituality, and Academic Director of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU.

The author of 15 books and more than a

hundred articles, he is Editor of the Journal of

Indo-Judaic Studies, has won four Fulbright grants,

was a Finalist for the 2000 National Jewish Book

Award, and won the 2004 Vak Devi Saraswati Saman

Award from India.

He has spent years studying and teaching in Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, and Israel, and was one of eight delegates for the

historic Tibetan-Jewish dialogue hosted by H.H. the

Dalai Lama in 1990, and was keynote speaker at the Third Hindu-Jewish Summitt in New York City in 2010.

He is also Academic Dean of Chaim Yakov Shlomo College of Jewish Studies, an Orthodox rabbinical school in Surfside, Florida, as

well as Adjunct Professor of Hinduism at Hindu

University of America in Orlando. He previously

taught at Naropa University, Williams College, and

the University of South Florida.

Saturday, March 15th, 2014

a search for healing by Carolyn Manosewitz

a search for healing an Art Exhibit by carolyn h. manosevitz - 5pm

4513 Manhattan College USA 10407

Price: Free

a search for healing is the title of an exhibit of the 3-D paintings and paper sculpture by carolyn h. manosevitz, mfa. Themes include a focus on preserving memory of the destroyed shtetls ( jewish communities) of eastern europe and reconciliation between Christians, Jews and Muslims in the 'shadow of the shoah'.

the exhibit ends mid June.

Exhibit will be showing from March 15th to June 30th all are welcome. It will be exhibited at the entrance of the O'Malley Library.

Wednesday, February 26th, 2014

Measuring Psychological Distress in Postconflict Settings: Stories from the Field, Reflections, and a Few Guidelines by Andrew Rasmussen

Measuring Psychological Distress in Postconflict Settings: Stories from the Field, Reflections, and a Few Guidelines - 4pm

4513 Manhattan College Riverdale, NY 10708 USA

Price: Free

Andrew Rasmussen, PhD

Associate Professor, Psychology

Director, MS in Applied Psychological Methods

Fordham University

Tuesday, February 25th, 2014

Arab-Israeli Alumni form Arava Institute will present on "Peace and Environmental Issues in the Middle East"

Arava Alumni Speak - 5pm

4513 Manhattan College Riverdale, NY 10708 USA

Price: Free

About Lee Frankel-Goldwater

Lee attended the Arava Institute in the fall of 2010 as part of a Master's program in Environmental Education at New York University. His undergraduate studies were in computer science and music at the University of Rochester. Lee is currently working with The Sustainability Laboratory to develop new global education programs, teaching environmental studies at Pace University, and developing an environmental poetry book for children with a fellow Arava Institute alum.

About Manar Saria

Originally from Haifa, Manar attended the Arava Institute from fall 2009 to spring 2010. Prior to studying at the Arava Institute, Manar earned an undergraduate degree in environmental and water engineering at the Technion. After a year at the Arava Institute, Manar continued her studies in the joint Master’s program between the Arava Institute and Ben Gurion University. Her thesis focused on solar water heater adoption and uptake in the West Bank. Currently, Manar is pursuing a PhD at Carnegie Mellon in water policy and climate change in Costa Rica as part of a Fulbright fellowship. She is involved in many peace and coexistence groups in Israel and Palestine as well as in Pittsburgh.

Arava Institute Alumni will discuss Peace and Water solutions.

About the Arava Institute

The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies is an environmental studies and research program in Israel. Accredited through Ben-Gurion University, the Arava Institute houses academic programs, research centers, and international cooperation initiatives focusing on a range of environmental concerns and challenges. With a student body comprised of Jordanians, Palestinians, Israelis, and students from around the world, the Arava Institute offers students an exceptional opportunity to learn from leading professionals while forming friendships and developing skills that enable them to lead the region and the world in solving today’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Thursday, November 21st, 2013

Shoah Through Muslim Eyes

Shoah Through Muslim Eyes - 7pm

Jewish Museum Miami, FL

Friday, November 15th, 2013

Anti-Semitism and the Arab World Conference at Drew University

Anti-Smeitism in the Muslim World a lecture by Dr. Afridi - 9-5pm

Drew University NJ, NJ

Price: $20.00

Wednesday, November 6th, 2013

Italy, Kristallnacht and After:the Memories of a Family by Shaul Bassi

Shaul Bassi is associate professor of English language and literature at Ca'Foscari University of Venice. His research, teaching and publications are divided between Shakespeare, postcolonial theory and literature (India and Africa), and Jewish studies. He has lectured at several Italian and international universities (London, Munich,Valencia, Berkeley, Toronto, Atlanta, New York, Praga, Nairobi); he has taught at Wake Forest University-Venice, Venice International University, Harvard-Ca'Foscari summer school and has been visiting professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He is the founder of the international literary festival Crossings of Civilizations (www.incrocidicivilta.org). He is the co-founder and Italian president of the Venice Center for International Jewish Studies (www.venicejewishstudies.org)

Tuesday, October 29th, 2013

"Living in Deafening Silence" Film & Discussion by Tom O'Hanlon

"Living the Deafening Silence" Film Screening and meet the director - Hayden Hall at 5pm

4513 Manhattan College Parkway NY 10471 USA 718-862-7284

Price: Open and Free to Public

Tom O’Hanlon began his broadcast journalism career as a news anchor and on air personality at WFUV in New York and as News Director of WFAS AM & FM in White Plains, New York. After joining the NBC Radio Network, where he was a producer, assignment editor and writer, he moved over to the television division of NBC News where he worked as a producer/writer for NewsChannel 4, The Today Show and the former NBC News at Sunrise. During his time at WNBC, he produced NewsChannel 4 at Six, NewsChannel 4 Midday and Today in New York and served as a field producer for the various broadcasts. He is an Emmy nominated television producer. He has anchored news on a number of well-known New York City radio stations, including the former WNEW-AM and is a member of the team at Clear Channel’s Total Traffic Network and 24/7 News where he is still a news anchor and traffic reporter. He works on-air regularly on WCBS Newsradio 880 and has also been heard on WABC, WOR, WBBR, the former WQCD as well as on affiliates of the 24/7 News nationwide network. Tom O’Hanlon is a graduate of Fordham University. He began his work in documentary film while completing his Master of Fine Arts degree in the Integrated Media Arts Program at Hunter College. He is an Assistant Professor in The Department of Journalism, Communication and Theatre at Lehman College/City University of New York. He is also producer of the award-winning TV news magazine “Inside Lehman,” which is seen on CUNY TV and Bronxnet. His areas of specialization are broadcast journalism, radio and television programming, broadcast production, on-air performance, audience behavior, media regulations/legalities, documentary film and the effects of mass media in society. Born in New York, Tom lives in Westchester with his wife Arlene and their sons Eric and Jonathan.

In 1965 the Second Vatican Council declared that God loves the Jews. Before that, the Church had taught for centuries that Jews were cursed by God and, in the 1940s, mostly kept silent as Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis. How did an institution whose wisdom is said to be unchanging undertake one of the most enormous, yet undiscussed, ideological swings in modern history?

The radical shift of Vatican II grew out of a buried history, a theological struggle in Central Europe in the years just before the Holocaust, when a small group of Catholic converts (especially former Jew Johannes Oesterreicher and former Protestant Karl Thieme) fought to keep Nazi racism from entering their newfound church. Through decades of engagement, extending from debates in academic journals, to popular education, to lobbying in the corridors of the Vatican, this unlikely duo overcame the most problematic aspect of Catholic history. Their success came not through appeals to morality but rather from a rediscovery of neglected portions of scripture.

From Enemy to Brother illuminates the baffling silence of the Catholic Church during the Holocaust, showing how the ancient teaching of deicide—according to which the Jews were condemned to suffer until they turned to Christ—constituted the Church’s only language to talk about the Jews. As he explores the process of theological change, John Connelly moves from the speechless Vatican to those Catholics who endeavored to find a new language to speak to the Jews on the eve of, and in the shadow of, the Holocaust.

Jews were cursed by God and, in the 1940s, mostly kept silent as Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis. How did an institution whose wisdom is said to be unchanging undertake one of the most enormous, yet undiscussed, ideological swings in modern history?

The radical shift of Vatican II grew out of a buried history, a theological struggle in Central Europe in the years just before the Holocaust, when a small group of Catholic converts (especially former Jew Johannes Oesterreicher and former Protestant Karl Thieme) fought to keep Nazi racism from entering their newfound church. Through decades of engagement, extending from debates in academic journals, to popular education, to lobbying in the corridors of the Vatican, this unlikely duo overcame the most problematic aspect of Catholic history. Their success came not through appeals to morality but rather from a rediscovery of neglected portions of scripture.

From Enemy to Brother illuminates the baffling silence of the Catholic Church during the Holocaust, showing how the ancient teaching of deicide—according to which the Jews were condemned to suffer until they turned to Christ—constituted the Church’s only language to talk about the Jews. As he explores the process of theological change, John Connelly moves from the speechless Vatican to those Catholics who endeavored to find a new language to speak to the Jews on the eve of, and in the shadow of, the Holocaust.

Thursday, September 12th, 2013

"Minefields and Miracles: God and Allah Need to Talk" A discussion by author and interfaith activist, Ruth Boyd-Sharone

Minefields and Miracles: God and Allah Need to Talk - 4 PM

4513 Manhattan College Parkway Riverdale, NY 10471 718-862-8241

Ruth Boyd Sharone will discuss her book Minefields and Miracles: God and Allah Need to Talk.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 23, 2013

INTERFAITH MEMOIR WINS TOP AWARDS IN TWO COMPETITIONS

Why is there so much hate and religious violence? What can I do to change the world? How can just one person make a difference?

Peace builder and interfaith activist Ruth Broyde Sharone has just won top awards in two book competitions. Her book MINEFIELDS & MIRACLES: Why God and Allah Need to Talk, published by Mixed Media Memoirs LLC, took first place for “religious non-fiction” in the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and also top honors in the 2013 International Book Awards in the category of “social change.”

At a time of heightened religious conflict and unrest around the world MINEFIELDS & MIRACLES comes as a breath of fresh air and a statement of renewed hope. Broyde Sharone’s riveting memoir—regaling readers with what she calls her interfaith “adventures and mis-adventures”-- has been endorsed by more than 30 religious leaders including H.H. the Dalai Lama. Paul Chaffee, editor of The Interfaith Observer, describes the book as “a page-turner, a compelling, fearless quest to reach across the toughest interreligious boundaries . . .”

Creator of the Golden Rule Poster, Paul McKenna says MINEFIELDS & MIRACLES should be required reading for anyone who is serious about interfaith dialogue. “I have been involved in interfaith work for more than 30 years . . . and I have seen and heard interfaith stories from around the world, but I have never encountered an interfaith testimonial with the depth and breadth of this one.”

Professor Cornel West at Princeton says: "I strongly support this book." Best-selling author Marianne Williamson concurs. “This book is a MUST READ for individuals who seek to be collaborators with the Holy in the quest for peace.”

An inspirational speaker, filmmaker, and journalist, and a recognized champion for interfaith engagement, Broyde Sharone was recently inducted into the Martin Luther King Board of Advisors of Morehouse College. Ruth’s documentary, GOD AND ALLAH NEED TO TALK, took top honors earlier this year as the best short in the 2013 World Harmony Interfaith Film Festival. A former staff member of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, she is currently serving her third term as Co-Chair for the Southern California Committee for a Parliament of the World’s Religions (www.SCCPWR.org) in Los Angeles, and is responsible for initiating and co-producing some of the most innovative interfaith programs in Southern California, in the U.S. and abroad.

The book is available for purchase through amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, the author’s website www.MinfieldsAndMiracles.com, and shortly as an ebook.

For more information or to book the author for speaking engagements, contact:

Monday, August 12th, 2013

Bearing Witness Program sponsored by ADL

Bearing Witness Program For Educators-ADL - August 12th-15th

4513 Manhattan College Riverdale, NY 10407

Price: CLOSED

The Bearing Witness™ Program is a unique professional development opportunity for Catholic school edu- cators. In 1996, the ADL’s Washington, D.C. Regional Office partnered with the Archdiocese of Washing- ton, D.C. to create Bearing Witness, in order to provide Catholic school educators with the training and resources necessary to teach their students about the historical relationship between Jews and the Catho- lic Church. Bearing Witness traces the impact of that relationship on Catholic teaching, catechesis and liturgy and the reconciliation between the two communities that has followed. Bearing Witness is endorsed by the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. In 2000, Bearing Witness was one of 15 programs across the country to receive recognition by the NCEA as a SPICE program (Selected Programs for Improving Catholic Education). SPICE is a process that identifies, validates, and systematically disseminates elementary and secondary school programs so that teachers and administrators in other schools can adopt them.

Since its inception, Bearing Witness has trained over 1,400 Catholic school educators across the country, impacting over 195,000 students.

Through Bearing Witness, participants explore the history of anti-Semitism, from biblical times to modern day. Themes include:

· Jews and Judaism in the New Testament

Jewish traditions

The history of anti-Semitism

Guidelines and methodology for teaching the Holocaust

The Churches and the Holocaust

Christians and Jews in dialogue and reconciliation

Anti-Semitism after the Holocaust

The Jewish community today

Anti-bias education

Implementing the lessons of Bearing Witness

“The path to peace begins with understanding and appreciating the beliefs of others… It’s good to re- member that the church moves slowly, and we’re moving in the right direc- tion,” she added. “it takes time to change people’s minds, but I’m excited to be a part of the change.”

Thursday, June 6th, 2013

Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale

Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, "Islam" - 7:45pm

475 West 250 Street Bronx, New York 10471 718-543-3110

Price: Free & Open to the Public

This is the third and final segment of a three part series about Islam. Part three is Perceptions of Islam Today: A discussion of negative perceptions of Muslims, Muslim-Americans and their struggles, and the new Arab spring.

Thursday, May 30th, 2013

Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale

Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, "Islam" - 7:45pm

475 West 250 Street Bronx, New York 10471 718-543-3110

Price: Free & Open to the Public

This is the second part of a three part series about Islam. The second session is The Golden Age: The period during which Muslims made significant advances in medicine, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and other fields.

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013

Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale

Dr. Mehnaz Afirid, "Islam" - 7:45pm

475 West 250 Street Bronx, New York 10471 718-543-3110

Price: Free & Open to the Public

This is the first part of a three part series about Islam. This session is Early Islam: The life of the Prophet Mohammed, his revelation of Islam, the split between Sunnis and Shias, and the relationship between Muslims and Jews.

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013

Nina Feld, "Someday You Will Understand: My Father's Private WWII. Growing up in the shadow of a life kept secret. " - 4pm

4513 Manhattan College Parkway Bronx, New York 10471 718-862-7284

Nina Wolff Feld is the author of Someday You Will Understand: My Father’s Private WWII. This riveting nonfiction narrative, distills the harrowing, hilarious, and inspiring details of civilian and military life on both sides of the Atlantic.The vignettes, conversations, political reflections, humorous episodes, and vividly drawn people throughout the book are unforgettable. Her story highlights her father's flight from the Nazis through Europe with his family when he was fifteen, his arrival in the United States in 1941, and his sojourn as a refugee student in New York's Dwight School before his basic training in the U.S. Army. Shortly after the death of President Roosevelt he returns to Europe, as a Ritchie Boy. Having reversed his role as a young Jew on the run in Europe to occupy a position of authority in the U.S Army Intelligence Corps, he went from being persecuted by to prosecuting his oppressors.

Artist and writer Nina Wolff Feld, a seasoned speaker who has spoken to diverse groups from New York to Washington DC, where she was keynote speaker at the 70th anniversary commemoration of the intelligence group The Ritchie Boys; a precursor to the CIA. In addition, she has spoken at inner city schools all over New York during their Holocaust studies curriculum.

Ms. Feld grew up in New York City and, like her father, has traveled extensively across the United States and throughout Europe. Articulate and engaging, she infuses her audiences with the poignancy, pain, pleasure and surprise of her powerful family stories--as if she were relating them for the very first time.

Youthful, energetic, and passionate, Ms. Feld is a knowledgeable historian of World War II and several generations of her family. Educated from childhood at the Lycée Français de New York and Friends Seminary she received a B.S. in Fine Art from Skidmore College in 1984 and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Pratt Institute School of Architecture in 1988. During the 1980s her paintings became part of the East Village and Soho art scene and are privately collected. Presently her series “BREAKING NEWS” is on view at a gallery in Harlem.

Ms. Feld is a contributing writer at The Ultimate History Project, a daily online journal created to promote high-quality cutting-edge historical scholarship which takes history out of academe to reach a wide readership (http://www.ultimatehistoryproject.com/index.html).

Thursday, April 4th, 2013

Manhattan College Smith Hall

Dr. Alan Steinweiss "Kristallnacht in History and Memory" - 7pm

4513 Manhattan College Parkway Bronx, New York 10471 USA 718-862-7284

Price: Free & Open to the Public

Alan E. Steinweis is the Leonard and Carolyn Miller Distinguished Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Vermont, where he also serves as the Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies.

Professor Steinweis is the author of three books: Art, Ideology, and Economics in Nazi Germany: The Reich Chambers of Music, Theater, and the Visual Arts (University of North Carolina Press, 1993; paperback 1996); Studying the Jew: Scholarly Antisemitism in Nazi Germany (Harvard University Press, 2006; paperback 2008). He is currently writing a history of Nazi Germany for Cambridge University Press.

He is the co-editor of four further volumes: The Impact of Nazism: New Perspectives on the Third Reich and Its Legacy (University of Nebraska Press, 2003; paperback 2007); Coping with the Nazi Past: West German Debates about Nazism and Generational Conflict, 1955-1975 (Berghahn Books, 2006, paperback 2007); The Law in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust (Berghahn Books, 2013); and The German People and the Persecution of the Jews (in preparation). He is the series editor of the American edition of the Comprehensive History of the Holocaust, a monograph series sponsored by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust research and commemoration authority of the state of Israel, and published by the University of Nebraska Press. He has also published several articles addressing the memory of the Holocaust in Germany and the United States.

Professor Steinweis has received fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Fulbright Commission, and the Skirball Foundation. He has held visiting positions at the Universities of Hannover and Heidelberg in Germany, and at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, and has been a visiting fellow at the Free University of Berlin and at the Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. During the Spring 2011 semester he held the visiting professorship in Interdisciplinary Holocaust Studies and German-Jewish History at the Fritz Bauer Institute of the University of Frankfurt. He is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Institute for Contemporary History, Munich-Berlin.

Wednesday, February 13th, 2013

The Importance of New Religious Community at the End of Civilization: Looking Beyond Secularism and Religionism - 4pm

Manhattan College Riverdale NY, NY 10471 718 862-7284

Price: Free and Open to the Public

Alan Jay Richard is a progressive religious organizer, activist, and writer with the nonprofit group Realistic Living. His current work focuses on building networks of “secular religious” experimentation within existing tradition of religious practice that help people engage seriously with rather than seek to escape from our common problems in a culturally diverse, interconnected global society. In this capacity, Dr. Richard assists in developing and publishing a non-academic lay journal of theology and other materials to support networks of secular religious experimentation in Christianity. Dr. Richard earned a doctorate in Religion from Syracuse University with areas of concentration in philosophy of religion, postcolonial religious expression in Melanesia, and the Reformation. While a graduate student, he became an AIDS activist, working in the Treatment and Data and Action Planning committees of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP) Syracuse. While finishing his dissertation, he joined an HIV prevention and epidemiology research firm in Houston, Texas and began conducting federally funded social research in psychological and social influences on HIV risk behavior. After eight years directing research projects, he began working with Houston nonprofits to develop and manage service projects in a broad range of areas his research had shown to be related to disease transmission, including housing affordability, social support networks, and adolescent mental health. In addition to his primary work with Realistic Living, Dr. Richard serves as Research Director at The Center for Success and Independence, an adolescent mental health organization in Houston, Texas, directing the Center’s Adolescent and Family Treatment project. He also serves as Senior Scientist for RTH Research Group, an evaluation consulting firm. Dr. Richard has recently published in the online journal Political Theology, has an article slated to appear in the newest volume of Buddhist-Christian Studies, and is working on a book to be published as part of Palgrave’s New Approaches to Religion and Power series.

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

Kristallnacht CANCELLED

MC Riverdale, NY 10471 USA 718-862-7284

Unfortunately due to inclement weather our speaker, Dr. Steinweis, will not be able to make it tomorrow and we have had to cancel the event. We thank you for your continued support and involvement with the HGI Center. Please stay tuned for upcoming events next semester!

Daisy Kahn is Executive Director of ASMA (American Society for Muslim Advancement), a non-profit organization dedicated to developing an American Muslim identity and to building bridges between the Muslim community and the general public through dialogues in faith, identity, culture, and arts.

2. Dr. Afridi, Director of HGI is on the advisory board to support the first pilot program 2012-13 at the Union Theological Seminary in New York for an "Interfaith Woman's Residency Program". Please see for more information:

3. HGI is now part of "1000 Cities Project: Society for Scriptural Reasoning" and will host a group at Manhattan College. This initiative is based at the Interfaith Center at Cambridge, UK. please see link for more information: